Saturday, January 28, 2017

So I've decided it's time to thin out my Bond collection, starting with some of my international editions. I've always enjoyed collecting international Bond books because of the variant and sometimes unusual cover art. Some of these I have blogged about.

I've listed several sets on eBay, including a set of Turkish editions using original Roger Moore artwork and some German John Gardner paperbacks with excellent cover art. Below are links to my auctions. I'll be listing more, including English language titles, in the months to come. (Sorry, I'm only shipping within the U.S., no international.)

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Our friend Stephan Bäckman has scored a nice scoop at his blog James Bond - The Secret Agent. In a twitter conversation with Anthony Horowitz, the author revealed a likely release date for his next James Bond novel.

Monday, January 16, 2017

Here is a collection of John Gardner James Bond paperbacks published in Germany. I've always enjoyed the original movie inspired artwork on the Heyne editions. Notice the publisher produced two versions of GoldenEye using different posters. They would do the same for Raymond Benson's Tomorrow Never Dies.

The books show above (in order) are:

Licence Renewed - published 1987

For Special Services - published 1984

Icebreaker - published 1988

Role of Honor - published 1987

Nobody Lives Forever - published 1987

No Deals Mr. Bond - published 1988

Scorpius - published 1990

Win Lose or Die - published 1991

Licence To Kill - published 1989

Brokenclaw - published 1992

GoldenEye - published 1996

GoldenEye - published 1996

I am thinning out my collection and selling many of my foreign language books, so I will be making several of these editions available on eBay soon.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

The first issue of Dynamite's spin-off Felix Leiter comic is released today. The story is by James Robinson with artwork by Aaron Campbell. Cover art is by Mike Perkins.

From superstar creative team James Robinson (Starman, Red Sonja) and Aaron Campbell (The Shadow, Uncanny) comes the Bond spin-off highlighting 007's American counterpart!

Felix Leiter finds himself in Japan, tracking down a beautiful, Russian spy from his past. But when the mission takes a turn for the worse, he will discover that there are more deadly schemes afoot in Tokyo and beyond!

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Some have complained that 2016 was a dead year for 007. But while there was no action on the cinematic side of the Bond world (which is not untypical in a year following a film), 2016 was a banner year for those of us who get enjoyment from the literary James Bond.

This year was unique in that we got two Young Bond novels by Steve Cole, Heads You Die and Strike Lightning. Both were released in limited edition hardcovers and paperbacks. The last book is Steve's best yet (IMHO), and right up there among the best of all the continuation novels.

We also had an embarrassment of riches in the graphic novel arena with Dynamite's Vargr, Eidolon and Hammerhead. Hammerhead is receiving praise from Bond fans reading the individual issues. (I admit I'm waiting for the collected volume.) And we almost got Dynamite's first adaptation of a Fleming original, Casino Royale, but that has now been pushed to July.

The year also saw a new collection of the classic Fleming strip from Titan. The Folio Society released From Russia With Love. We got Trigger Mortis paperbacks in the U.S. and UK. And Ian Fleming himself showed up on Timeless. Unfortunately, the year also saw the loss of Ian Fleming's literary agent and the man who ran Glidrose for so many years, Peter Janson-Smith.

In the news department, we learned that Anthony Horowitz will pen a second James Bond continuation novel. We got the name and cover art for Steve Cole's next Young Bond, Red Nemisis, as well as the next graphic novel Black Box. And we learned of the spin-off series, Felix Leiter, due to kick off this month.

Finally, I did a little design revamp on the The Book Bond itself, adding dropdown menus where you can more easily access past posts.